Plot Synopsis

Long time readers of this site will know that I enjoy lots of Asian cinema from Chinese action epics to Japanese animation to Hong Kong martial arts. Accordingly, I am predisposed to enjoy Chinese films with an action or fantasy bent. With little knowledge of this film, other than the presence of Jet Li, I sat down to watch it without much preconception. It is a slightly odd amalgam of romance, supernatural fantasy, comedy and action film. It is visually impressive and entertaining film if you can get past the oddball style, which will alienate some. This is certainly not a film for fans of Jet Li's martial arts based films. The action is more in the form of CGI based throwing of spells with major effects on the surrounding landscapes rather than hard core fights with fists or swords. There are floods, earthquakes, destroying of temples and much more besides.

Anyway, the plot involves Xu Xian (Raymond Lam) a young herbalist who wants to become a doctor. One day while hunting for herbs in the mountains with his friends, he is watched by two female demons (but not in the really evil sense) who are naturally large snakes. They can also take semi-human and human form, either as beautiful women with the bodies of snakes (a la mermaids) or just a beautiful women. They are sisters called Susu (Eva Huang) and QingQing. QingQing is the more self-centred of the two and she decides to scare Xu Xian. He falls into a lake and is rescued by Susu in human form who kisses him thus saving his life by passing some of her life essence to him. He falls in love with her and decides to ask her family for her hand in marriage, without knowing she is a demon in human form. Meanwhile, Master Fahai (Jet Li), a monk, is hunting demons with his offsider, Neng Ren. He starts to investigate the goings-on around Xu Xian and Susu and quickly discovers her secret. He tells her she must leave Xu Xian or he will destroy her. Obviously, her love for Xu Xian drives her to stay and a battle for the soul of Xu Xian begins. Will the lovers be torn apart by the crusading monk? Will the whole area be destroyed by the fighting?

There is lots of CGI in this film and your level of tolerance for it driving most of the action will probably determine your enjoyment of this film, assuming the plot outline interests you. There are certainly some impressive visuals in this film, with some action sequences of very large scope including waves crashing over mountains like 2012, bamboo forest fights like House of the Flying Daggers and much more. There is so much going on that the film sometimes feels like the aim is to throw as many effects at the screen as possible rather than tell a story. Jet Li does his job well, restricted as it is and the rest of the cast is pretty good too. The film was directed by veteran action director from Hong Kong, Ching Su-Tung probably best known for his work on films like House of the Flying Daggers, Curse of the Golden Flower and Hero.

In summary, if the plot and style interests you, this film is certainly worth a look.

Transfer Quality

Video

The video quality is generally excellent but at the wrong aspect ratio. The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio which is not the original aspect ratio. The original ratio is 2.35:1. I didn't strike me as being cropped while I was watching it but it certainly would make sense to be in 2.35:1. It is 1080p encoded using AVC.

The picture was very clear and sharp throughout. The shadow detail was excellent. The colour was also excellent, bright and vivid throughout, which is in keeping with the over the top style of the film. Landscapes, flowers and other effects burst off the screen in a blaze of colour. Occasionally, faces seemed a little over bright.

There were no obvious artefacts.

There are subtitles available in English. They are a little smaller than I would like and too often disappear into the background of the scene. They are burned into the print.

There are no obvious layer changes during playback.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness

Shadow Detail

Colour

Grain/Pixelization

Film-To-Video Artefacts

Film Artefacts

Overall

Audio

The audio quality is excellent. This disc contains the original Chinese soundtrack in DTS HD-MA 5.1.

Dialogue seemed clear and easy to hear and understand, although I am not a Chinese speaker.

The music by Mark Lui is generally suitable but occasionally becomes intrusive and somewhat over the top, but I suppose that is in keeping with the film stylistically.

The surround speakers were used a lot for fight scenes, natural disasters, music, voices and a myriad of other effects. Great stuff. The subwoofer was also used constantly to support explosions, fight scenes, falling buildings and more.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue

Audio Sync

Clicks/Pops/Dropouts

Surround Channel Use

Subwoofer

Overall

Extras

Pretty barren extras cupboard.

Menu

The menu included sounds and pictures from the film. It was preceded by trailers.

DTS-HD MA Soundcheck

A set of sound tests are available in both 5.1 and 7.1 variants.

Other Trailers

Trailers for other films.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view
non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually
also NTSC compatible.

There is a Region A (Hong Kong) version of this film on Blu-ray which seems to be in the correct aspect ratio, includes a 7.1 soundtrack and some extras. According to YesAsia it also includes English subtitles. This would be the best version based on these improvements.

Summary

An entertaining but slightly odd combination of action, romance, comedy and supernatural themes.